Sierra Vista and Twin Cities Earn Get With The Guidelines Stroke Achievement Awards

Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center and Twin Cities Community Hospital have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®- Gold Plus Stroke Quality Achievement Award. The awards recognize the hospitals’ commitment to leadership in stroke care in San Luis Obispo County and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.

Both Sierra Vista and Twin Cities were the first two hospitals in San Luis Obispo County to be accredited as a Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission.

These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 5 million patients since 2001. For more information, visitheart.org/qualityor heart.org/QualityMap.